| We have attempted to review this broad subject not by being comprehensive, but rather by emphasizing areas of recent advance. The hallmark of diabetes mellitus is an inability to control blood glucose. There are two major clinical syndromes: one characterized by insulin dependence and early age of onset with weight loss and ketonuria, and the second characterized by relatively later onset, insensitivity to insulin and partial insulin deficiency. Dearth of precise knowledge about pathogenesis makes aetiological classification hazardous, and in this review the descriptive terms insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM) and noninsulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM) will be used. |